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What is the name of this type of photos where all the characters are shown?

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    Uhm.. Composite? Collage?
    – Scott
    Commented Jul 23, 2019 at 4:54
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    A deep etched montage?
    – Mark Read
    Commented Jul 23, 2019 at 6:52

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If you search for movie posters with several characters you'll find it's usually called a Montage or Character Montage. There's even a super hero meme montage generator so apparently it's also a meme somehow.

It seems that the type of composition doesn't matter, I've seen different arrangements and it's still called a montage. This type of composition used to be called simply a collage up until I googled it.

Addendum: according to the Merriam-webster dictionary, a Montage is (emphasis mine)

  1. : the production of a rapid succession of images in a motion picture to illustrate an association of ideas
  2. a : a literary, musical, or artistic composite of juxtaposed more or less heterogeneous elements
    b : a composite picture made by combining several separate pictures
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  • I always thought "montage" was a video thing not a still image thing. Interesting.
    – Scott
    Commented Jul 23, 2019 at 20:25
  • @Scott apparently it is now... Montage used to be a video only thing AFAIK, but it seems times have changed.
    – Luciano
    Commented Jul 24, 2019 at 8:17
  • Oxford Dictionary of English also lists "the technique of producing a new composite whole from fragments of pictures, text, or music" and gives examples of "the art of montage in theatre and film" and "a montage of photographs" Commented Jul 26, 2019 at 16:33
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    @Luciano the OED also attests the usage is from 1938, so it's not a new meaning. 1938 A. Cooper, Making Poster 34: "Used as ‘montage’ in conjunction with blue skies, or green fields, photographs of human beings appear singularly unattractive."
    – Billy Kerr
    Commented Jul 29, 2019 at 7:57
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    @Luciano "collage" and "montage" can be synonyms in this sense too. So, you're not wrong.
    – Billy Kerr
    Commented Jul 29, 2019 at 8:03

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